Brendan Rodgers has his say on Celtic pairing Adam Idah and Kyogo, whether or not he’d do so again

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Brendan Rodgers made a tactical tweak to his Celtic side in their win over Ross County last weekend.

The Hoops boss paired both Adam Idah and Kyogo up top with the latter initially starting wider on the pitch before dropping into some good spaces.

Kyogo hit a “scary” double with the Japanese striker being dubbed the “game changer” in his side’s comfortable 4-1 win over the Staggies in Dingwall.

Idah had a slower afternoon than his colleague and was eventually replaced by Johnny Kenny whose debut was addressed by Rodgers.

But when asked about his decision to move from traditional wide players to a hybrid of Kyogo and Idah, Rodgers was pleased with what he saw from his pairing.

Of course, he says, it could always have been even better for Celtic.

• READ MORE: Chris Sutton hails ‘sensational’ Celtic bench player who wants more starts after win v Ross County

Rodgers paired Kyogo with Idah up front for Celtic vs Ross County

Yet for one of the first matches in some time asking both players to link-up, Rodgers was satisfied with the outcome.

“Yeah, you have to give them credit,” he told the press at full-time.

“They had the will to want to make it work. Obviously, we haven’t really done that before.

“We normally play with out-and-out wingers, stretching the game, making runs in behind and then bodies on the inside. That was just a little structural change where he morphs on the inside. That can take a little bit of time.

“But there were some moments, especially in the first half, for the goals. Yeah, yeah. Adam creates that space for you. Absolutely.

“So it was never going to be perfect, but it didn’t need to be. We just found a way to have a go at it and challenge the players to make it work. And I thought they made it work really well.”

Idah and Kyogo worked well together, says Celtic boss Rodgers

Celtic hammered County in terms of the statistics from full-time with a whopping 27 shots on goal and 13 of those on target.

Goalkeeper Jordan Amissah was arguably man of the match and that came down to the number of stops he made despite conceding four.

Kyogo and Idah had their fair share and that’s why Rodgers was pleased.

“Do I think it worked in the main? Yeah,” he said.

“Some bits were not perfect, but I can’t expect it to be perfect. But I think the actual overall structure of it can give teams problem when he’s more on the inside.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	CelticCeltic	22	19	2	1	61	8	53	59
2	RangersRangers	22	13	5	4	41	18	23	44
3	Dundee UtdDundee Utd	23	10	7	6	31	24	7	37
4	AberdeenAberdeen	22	10	5	7	32	30	2	35
5	MotherwellMotherwell	23	9	4	10	28	37	-9	31
6	HibernianHibernian	23	7	8	8	34	36	-2	29

“Then you’ve got another reference with Adam there.

“But I need to have a look at it in the game to analyse it.

“Adam’s game shouldn’t really… His performance and what we require from him shouldn’t really change. He’s a central striker. He’s a reference for the team. Set the game up. Run in behind. Press the game.

“It was more for Kyogo to adapt. Because rather than having him stretch the pitch in the early stages of build-up, as we progress through the pitch, then find the space. And I’ve said it before many times.

“Players play the space, not just the position. And the space is inside. Then when he rolls in, someone else rolls out.”